Heartbeat
by ZombiesloveMangoes
Summary: Rain is coming down and we're on the run. Think I can feel the breath in your body. We gotta keep on running til' we see the sun. Oh you gotta fire and it's burnin' in the rain. Thought that it went out, but it's burnin' just the same. And you don't look back, not for anything. 'Cause love someone, love them all the same. If you love someone, love them all the same.
1. Chapter 1

ok guys so my updates on things will be a little bit longer due to the fact i am using a dinosaur computer because my cat waterborded my laptop...so it will be in the shop for a few weeks until it is all better and life can go on...well mine of course this one is M which isnt normal but i have a few tricks up my sleeve for this one oh those with a weak stomach reading this please do read on...*sarcasm*

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After the long drive to wrap up the case all Beckett wanted to do was go home. Castle stared out the window at the forest's beyond. Having traveled to the far end of the New York state her feet and legs were in need of a stretch and Castle was fidgeting often. The last town they passed was twelve miles back, coming on thirteen. She hadn't seen a sign for the past seven. His feet were tapping the floorboard and his fingers drummed his thigh. His anxiety was driving her nuts.

"Please don't tell me you have to pee." He finally looked at her and knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. She sighed and turned on her high beams as the passing car headed past hummed low in her throat and stuck her head over the steering wheel looking for any signs. She looked to the right then back the middle and nearly screamed. Her voice caught in her throat and she hit the brakes.

"What happened?" She was shaking and tried to clear her head. Just my imagination. It was the dark. She gave a shaky breath and let go of the steering wheel.

"Nothing my imagination got the best of me. I'll try to find a village." The grabbed the wheel again unconvinced even to herself. The scene kept replaying over and over in her head. Those sickly dead eyes looking at her as the head they were attached on turned itself. She had seen bodies before just not walking ones. But what she couldn't shake was the condition in which the body was in. The pristine clothes with no tears and no signs of struggle. Above the shoulders the hair stood on end and missing patches here and there. The eyes, oh god the eyes, they looked at her with hatred and the feral look of a hungry animal. The face was hanging limply off of the bone. The only thing holding it there was the muscle between the two. She felt her stomach do back flips on her abdomen. Castle looked over at her and her face paled. Her hands the same white color. He wanted to reach out and help, but without knowing what was wrong he would just have to sit there and give her morale support.

She saw a sign for Saugerties. It was six miles ahead. The river beside her was so loud she could hear it through the window. It soothed her, but only a little. Her hands stopped shaking, but out of the corner of her eye she could see her color hadn't returned. She looked in the rear view mirror to check herself and nearly ripped off the mirror. Those eyes. They were back. They were looking at her. They were her own eyes. She looked in the back seat of her service car and it was empty. Castle tried to look, but she whipped back around and kept on driving, only at a faster speed.

"Beckett tell me what's wrong." She shook her head. What was wrong with her. She wasn't afraid of ghosts. She didn't believe in them. Why was this scaring the shit out of her. Castle reached over and grabbed her right hand. "Beckett..." He trailed off hoping that was enough for the truth. It wasn't, it never was. She kept driving not even looking at him. _Well shit_. He saw lights start to clear the horizon and she looked relaxed. What had done this to her. AS they drove up to the town she slowed down and breathed through her teeth. A few little shops looked open. She pulled up to the curb on one and she looked before she got out. He street side so he hurried to the curb. She walked in hurriedly to get out of the open and he followed her. She was still antsy. Beckett walked farther in so he could shut the door and she admired the cute little gift shop. An older lady was at the desk and looked past her glasses shaking slightly. The only difference from Beckett's shaking and the older lady's was the older woman smiled and hardly realized she was quivering. Her eyes always seemed closed, but she smirked as they came in.

"Dear, why are you two out so late on a night like this you two should be in bed resting." She smiled.

"Oh no we're just passing through and he had to go." Beckett thrust a thumb in his direction. The older woman smiled and her eyes closed all the way.

"Around the corner doll." Beckett shivered and looked around. "Dearie come over here. It's quite warmer."

"Oh no ma'am I'm quite alright. I'm not cold." The older woman smiled and patted the wood counter in front of her. Beckett stopped for a minute and eventually gave in walking over.

"You need to get out of here and get somewhere warm. This is not a place to stay on a late night like this." The older lady's eyes shot open fully and Beckett wanted to jump.

"Miss it's quite alright we are just heading home." Beckett managed for a quick minute. The woman's eyes closed again and smiled as Castle came from around the corner. Beckett was still looking at her as Castle nudged her up.

"Come on Beckett. Time to head home." Beckett finally looked away and almost ran out the door. Castle hurried to catch up. "Beckett stop this tell me what's wrong." He grabbed her. She wanted to cry to get rid of what she had just heard, what she had just seen. She wanted to be home. In her warm bed. Maybe even his arms around her. She wanted that so badly. She rested her head on his chest and breathed in his cologne. She shook her head.

"Let's just get home first." _I want to survive the night_. She thought, but couldn't spill the words to Castle.


	2. Chapter 2

oh i forgot to mention so since my laptop is in the shop i will be working on this one so just hold on i dont normally do these but i can tell a good ghost story ;)

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Castle decided to drive and Beckett gave no resistance. She felt exhausted after driving all day and crawled into the back. He talked to her while she fell asleep. Castle stared out into the darkening sky. The stars had risen above the car and the moon was just clearing the windshield. Castle looked out the corner of his eye behind him. Beckett was fast asleep and curled up, her face against the back of the seat. He smirked. _What are you doing she's asleep, scared out of her mind, and that's all you can think about? Pathetic. Control yourself man! _ His self conscious yelled at him. He looked back and slammed on the brakes. _What the hell was that?_ Castle opened his door and a hand grabbed his shoulder making him shut the door. He jumped.

"Beckett!" Her hair was in a mess and her eyes looked terrified.

"Don't go out. Stay. Just keep driving." He looked at her and the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. He put the car in drive and locked the doors. She let go, but held her hand on his bicep. She laid her head down and wanted for sleep to come back to her. She was dreaming of them. Together. Away from this place. In the safety of each others arms. Tears stung her eyes and she shoved her face into the cushion. _No, we will get out of here_. She heard a whistling noise. She looked up and realized it wasn't whistling. She shot up and Castle had tensed. It wasn't a whistle by any means. It was screaming. Somewhere between a little girl crying and a cat screeching. Beckett grabbed his arm again and urged him to drive faster. He was about to step on the gas when it all shut off. The car slowly came to a stop and Beckett climbed the seat to sit in the passenger's seat. The screaming stopped, but that somehow was worse. "Castle..."

"Maybe the CIA want to talk to us again." Beckett wanted too believe that. With all her heart that is what she wanted. She pulled out her phone and he did as well. They both checked their service. Nothing, zip, _nada_. Beckett tried to steel herself. With a shaky breath she closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

"We have to see what's wrong." She tried to grab the door handle, but it seemed to slip out of her grasp. She mentally shook herself and they both got out. The air got colder since they had last gotten out of the car. Breath billowed around each others faces as she popped the hood. Steam poured out and they cleared it away before they saw anything different. Beckett looked in as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Oh." She said as she saw the problem. "The serpentine belt snapped. We aren't going anywhere until we can get a new one." The sound of the river engulfed her and with a twist it made her feel trapped. No relief would come from that now. The woods on either side of them made her feel suffocated. The smell of leaves and rushing water almost made her nauseous. She must have been slipping because she felt arms around her. She wanted to scream until she looked and saw it was Castle.

"Come on we have to -" He was cut off by the screaming again and it came closer. Every few seconds it would change pitch. From a wailing cat to a man crying for help. Tears stung her eyes again. Who was this this wasn't Beckett. She needed to get a hold of herself. Why wasn't Castle flipping out. Normally he had a million ideas spouting from his mouth. Now the only thing there was the eerie silence that came again. Castle looked around. "Do you know how far we are from a town?"

"I think there was a sign a while back." She gained some of her composure back and looked around. She reached into the back seat and grabbed her extra coat. She had realized she had one. She shook the feeling of dread and pulled out her phone. Still no service. She almost growled and Castle's breath came from beside her. The temperature was cold and dropping. How could it drop that fast? She had calmed herself until she looked over at Castle. She smirked and then looked past him and her heart rate went through the roof. Those eyes. They were back. She froze at the pale reflection of what little light was coming from the moon above looked back at her with twisted hatred. Beckett tried to look away, but they had her captivated. Castle shook her. She hadn't realized he was calling her name.

"Beckett. Kate!" She looked at him and then looked back and they were gone. She made sure her gun was on her hip. Castle held onto her arm as she shut the door and threw the jacket over both of them. Once they were wrapped up they headed in the opposite direction and began walking into the darkness that suppressed any sounds of life like a big, frozen blanket.


	3. Chapter 3

Beckett had her eyes closed for most of the walk. She was glad he was by her side, but she new he wasn't as composed as he let on. Every once in a while his grip would tighten around her arm. They kept their heads down and made sure they wouldn't give in to the on and off screaming. Beckett wished she had a flashlight. She also wished she was at home, but they both knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. She saw a glint of metal up ahead and raced up. She wanted to see how far to go before she could finally feel the warmth of her bed...or his. She mentally shook herself and ran until the metal sign was just in front of her. She looked at the front of the sign and almost lost her balance.

The sign had nothing on it except two crudely painted eyes. Beckett felt her blood turn cold and Castle grabbed her arm. "Come on we have to get out of here." He turned her around and they kept walking, only at a faster pace. The jacket was slipping off and he put it around her knowing she needed more than he. Her breathing was ragged as if she forced it out of her and it was all she could do to keep her legs moving. She heard a crack behind her and nearly lost it. How could she lose control with a bunch of tricks. She was not herself. Castle must have heard it as well for the both stopped. Castle was the only one to look back. His breathing stopped momentarily and he shoved her ahead of him. ""Go! Run as fast as you can!" She didn't want to, but she had no other choice. She ran, ran until her legs gave out and her eyes were stinging from the cold wind that picked up around her. She looked back and she couldn't see anyone behind her.

She had the urge to give up again. Whatever it was that was chasing them wasn't friendly. It also wasn't going to go without a fight. Beckett took a shaky breath and called out, "Castle!" She yelled. "How dare you leave me like this. You bastard get back here!" She wanted to be mad at him because it was better than feeling helpless. She turned around and saw a light up ahead. She sighed in relief and knew it was all in her head. She began to walk ahead. She still wish Castle was back at her side, but she had no idea where he went. A tear fell down her wind chapped cheek and stung every where if trailed. She wiped it away, crying gets you no where. Walking does. She was about to walk again when the trees around her shivered. She looked over regretfully and instantly wished she hadn't there was a figure within the leaves. It was an outline of a person with the crudely drawn eyes right in the middle of its head. The only difference in these eyes is that they reflected the crystal clear blue that belonged to the one person she could always trust and count on. She almost collapsed. No it's a trick. She kept looking down and ran towards the lights. She heard screaming and she wanted to go help, but she knew it was a trap. Who ever was out there was playing a very good game of hide and go kill.

Beckett thought she reached the lights except it was only sign. _Kingston 11 mls, Kingston-Ulster Airport 7 mls._ She shook her hands next to her side. She had to find Castle. She had to fix her car. They had to get home alive. She began walking back to her car when a gust of wind knocked her to her feet. She looked around. No it wasn't wind it was...


	4. Chapter 4

Castle charged at the apparition, but it only seemed to get farther away. He had a sick feeling that no matter how fast he ran he would never catch it. It didn't matter the adrenaline was coursing through him at thousands of miles an hour. He would not let Beckett be brought down by this. What ever it was. He was actually surprised himself when he had taken the courage to face this wicked. He had one for small burst of energy and he ran, but slipped on the loose gravel by the roadside and slipped into the water way beside him. The mud squelching beneath his falling body.

"Damn. That hurt." He tried to get up, but his side was in a fiery inferno. He grabbed on to what he could, but it wasn't much since it had recently rained only a day ago and the mud was still breathed heavily into his arm as he heaved himself out. His left arm wrapped around his chest. The pain was searing, but he had to press on. _Come on Rick. What ever is scaring the hell out of Kate you need to make sure it can't ever again. Wait not need HAVE. It is not a need it's a necessity._ Castle grunted and heaved himself up on two feet and gritted his teeth. His breathing came out in ragged gasps when he heard her yelling. He couldn't go back to her like this.

Castle had to smile at the way she handled situations. He was also glad she didn't give in to this thing. He looked up and it was like it was taunting him. Okay, besides being scared for Beckett, he was royally pissed. The pain seemed to dull and he threw a rock at it. It bounced off, but made the thing even more aggressive. Castle held his breath as it began to move side to side in spastic movements. "Oh shit." He tried to push the pain out of his mind again to run, but he already felt a frozen slice run down his back. A warm wet trickle began to run down his back. His voice caught in his throat and he couldn't call out. The freezing cold had numbed the pain, but he knew he was going to feel it later. His legs gave out and he hit the ground with a sickening thud. He coughed and although the light wasn't good to see in, he slid his hand across his mouth and it had darkened. He hand an arm across his chest again and tried to get up. The pain shattered through him and he screamed. His face hit the ground again and he tried crawling. Whatever was tormenting him decided he wasn't a threat anymore and was gone. He coughed again and tried to stand up. The pain was unbearable and He collapsed again. His eyes fluttered to stay open, but the pain did him in and his mind sent him into a dark, and cold rest.

Castle didn't know how long he was out, but it felt like years. His back was stiff and his ribs were sending flares of increasing pain the more he moved. He managed to get up and noticed his scratch on his back had stopped bleeding. Well that was a good sign. Maybe it didn't stop and he just lost feeling. He didn't care either way. He had to go get Beckett. He had to make sure she was okay. He got up through clenched teeth and began walking.


End file.
